Maya For Mac OS X To Ship By September 25

(July 18, 2001)

Alias/Wavefront announced that its Maya Complete software for Mac OS X is scheduled to ship on or before September 25th, 2001 and will include the company's latest advancements in Maya rendering technology.

According to the company, Maya is the largest, most technically sophisticated program to be built for Mac OS X. Maya's rebuild as a Macintosh application will help traditional graphics artists bridge the gap between 2D and 3D. Maya will be demonstrated at Macworld in the Alias/Wavefront booth No. 1707 where the company is launching an advance-order promotion of the software.

Since Maya was last demonstrated to the North American Macintosh community at Macworld San Francisco, all of Maya Complete 3 has been made native to Mac OS X; moreover, Maya's texture and rendering enhancements have been brought to the Macintosh. At their Macworld New York booth, Alias/Wavefront and its clients will be demonstrating these advancements along with support for QuickTime, Maya character animation and Interactive Photorealistic Rendering (IPR).

Says beta tester and 3D artist, Kevin Baille: "All of us here at The Orphanage are ecstatic about the progress Alias/Wavefront has been making with the OS X implementation of Maya. Being a completely Mac-based visual effects and production studio, we are extremely impressed by how easily Maya for OS X fits into and enhances our existing production pipeline. With the help of full QuickTime integration into Maya for OS X, the transition from other Mac-based 3D applications has been nearly seamless. Maya's character animation features, its powerful MEL scripting language, and superb particle and dynamics tools places it on another level when compared to other Mac-based 3D animation packages. In a very short period of time, Maya for OS X has become an indispensable part of our production pipeline. We are excited to be helping shape a product which will undoubtedly revolutionize the Mac-based 3D industry."

Alias|Wavefront is currently accepting orders for the Mac OS X version of Maya. The company is also launching a special two-part order promotion. Anyone ordering the product before December 31, 2001 will be entitled to receive twelve-months of maintenance, including upgrades and support. In addition, for those who place their orders before the product ships in September, a complimentary productivity pack will be added to this offer. This productivity pack will include: a voucher redeemable for a Wacom tablet; a copy of the coffee-table-style resource book, The Art of Maya; a three-button mouse; a limited edition Maya jacket; and a Maya training DVD.

Alias|Wavefront is demonstrating Maya for Mac OS X at Macworld in New York, July 17-20 in booth No. 1707. Along with technology demonstrations, the company will be featuring customer presenters from such renowned production houses as Sony Pictures Imageworks, Nick Erikson Studios, Kleiser-Walczak, and Blue Sky Studios -- all of whom will be speaking on their latest Maya projects. Many of these facilities are also beta testing Maya on Mac OS X.

Maya Complete for Mac OS X will become available September for $7,500 USD the same price as Maya for the IRIX, Linux and Windows NT, Windows 2000 Professional platforms. International pricing may vary. The core features of the Mac OS X version of Maya will be the same as those in Maya for other platforms.